Posted on by Staff Report

Front Row Motorsports found themselves at the front of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice Saturday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway as David Ragan led the way.

Ragan clocked the fastest lap at 127.487 mph in the No. 38 Ford, turning it on his second lap of the session. Ragan will start 23rd in Sunday’s Food City 500 (1 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Final practice results | Sunday’s start time moved up

Chase Elliott ticked off the second-fastest time at 127.073 mph in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin finished the session in third at 126.997 mph, followed by Kurt Busch in fourth (126.537 mph).

Michael McDowell backed up Front Row’s effort by completing the top five with the fifth-fastest time at 126.295 mph in the No. 34 Ford.

The final five minutes of the session did not treat Stewart-Haas Racing well, though. Busch, who was slated to start on the outside pole alongside his younger brother, Kyle Busch, lost control of the No. 41 Ford at the exit of Turn 2 and hit the inside wall nose-first. Clint Bowyer also found trouble, running into the left-rear quarter panel of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Trevor Bayne, causing damage to the right-front fender of the No. 14 Ford.

RELATED: Full Bristol schedule | Complete starting lineup

The No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team of Austin Dillon and the No. 00 StarCom Racing team of Landon Cassill served 15-minute practice holds for failing qualifying inspection twice.

Due to an inclement weather forecast, the start time for Sunday’s Monster Energy Series race at Bristol has been moved up to 1 p.m. ET on FOX.

Second Practice Recap

It was Kyle Larson who rocketed to the top of the speed charts in Saturday’s second practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Larson, driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, laid down a lap of 129.004 miles per hour to win the session in preparation for Sunday’s Food City 500 (1 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Practice 2 results | Best 10-lap averages | Full Bristol schedule

Martin Truex Jr. finished second in the session at 128.952 mph in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola notched the third-fastest time (128.943 mph), while pole-sitter Kyle Busch (128.934 mph) and Kasey Kahne (128.830 mph) rounded out the top five.

Defending race winner Jimmie Johnson, who will start last on Sunday after the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team was forced to change tires following Friday’s Busch Pole Award qualifying session, finished out the session in ninth with a lap of 128.563 mph.

The No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team of Austin Dillon served a 15-minute practice hold in this session for unapproved adjustments, while the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing team of Harrison Rhodes and the No. 66 Motorsports Business Management team of Chad Finchum served 15-minute holds for arriving late to qualifying inspection.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kurt Busch was an elite talent as a young driver, and if anything, brother Kyle Busch was even more precocious.

“He always told everybody, ‘If you think I’m good, wait for my younger brother,’ ” Kyle Busch quipped on Friday after winning the pole for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway — by .002 seconds over his older brother.

“I can’t believe it’s two thousandths,” said Kurt Busch, who ran 128.804 mph to Kyle’s 128.822 mph in the final round of knockout qualifying. “It seemed like an eternity.”

RELATED: Sunday’s lineup| Full schedule for Bristol

Kurt admitted to being too aggressive in Turn 1 on his money lap.

“I slipped up just a little but in Turn 1, and that was all Kyle needed to get by us,” Kurt said. “I missed it a little bit in Turn 1 — I got greedy.”

Sunday’s race will be the third time the Busch brothers have started on the front row of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, all with Kyle in the pole position. The brothers qualified 1-2 at Las Vegas in 2009 and at Texas in 2013.

The Busch Pole Award was Kyle’s second of the season, his second at Bristol and the 29th of his career.

Brad Keselowski qualified third in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford, followed by the Fords of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ryan Blaney.

Kevin Harvick, a three-time winner this year, did not make a qualifying run after wrecking in practice because of a front suspension failure and going to a backup car. By NASCAR rules, he will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.

So will the race’s defending champion, Jimmie Johnson, who qualified 17th but later learned his team had discovered a cut tire on his No. 48 Chevrolet. Because of the necessary tire change, Johnson also will start from the back of the field.

 

Kyle Larson, Paul Menard, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell and Joey Logano qualified sixth through 10th, respectively. Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender William Byron matched his previous best qualifying effort with an 11th-place effort.

Daniel Suarez starts 12th after edging Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones for the last spot in the final round.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

BRISTOL, Tenn. — For a driver running a limited NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule, the opportunity to run for $100,000 is an opportunity that can’t be overstated.

That’s certainly the case for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ryan Preece, who has already made the most of the two races he has run in the series this year. The modified ace finished fifth last Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway to earn eligibility for the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus at stake in Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Preece will vie with three other eligible drivers—Christopher Bell, Cole Custer and Daniel Hemric—for the cash prize, which will go to the highest finisher among the four.

RELATED: Who’s running for the prize at Bristol | Learn more about Dash 4 Cash 

“To be honest with you, I’m used to running from anywhere to $2,000 races to $10,000 races, so to come here and to have a chance to win $100,000 is a big deal to me,” Preece said. “All of us do say it doesn’t matter if it’s at a go-kart track for a piece of plastic or for $100,000, we’re going to race each other hard – pretty hard.

“I would say that’s true, but at the same time, $100,000—I know what it’d do for me, and I’m going to race very hard to get that … Like I said last week, it would help me build more race cars … so that’s a big deal.”

It’s also a big deal for charity. Through its Internet Essentials program, Comcast will donate an additional $10,000 in conjunction with each of the four Dash 4 Cash races. The designated local charity for the Bristol race is the Quest Foundation for Washington County Schools.

Preece was third on the speed chart during opening NASCAR Xfinity Series practice—and fastest of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers. He was fourth in final practice; third amongst the four Dash 4 Cash drivers.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR announced this offseason that it will standardize at-track team rosters across all three national series in 2018, providing a structure for the number of personnel working on each vehicle during the course of a race weekend.

Official team rosters for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) were unveiled.

Simply click the “print” icon above, next to the headline and social media icons, to get the full list.

RELATED: Overview of 2018 rules updates

Posted on by

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch was one of Erik Jones’ biggest mentors as he came up through the racing ranks in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Now that the two drivers are Joe Gibbs Racing teammates in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, that mentor-student relationship has changed a bit.

“I’d like to think it’s still there, but he doesn’t use me as much anymore,” Busch said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway with a grin. “I don’t know if he thinks he knows everything or just doesn’t trust me.

He continued later, “He’s probably been around long enough that he’s comfortable with what he knows and what he’s doing and what he’s got going on with own team that he doesn’t pick my brain as much as he used to.”

MORE: Jones ties Blaney atop practice

Jones also spoke on their evolving relationship minutes later during his own media availability.

“In the Cup Series, I have asked him for help,” he said, smiling. “I still give him a call every once in a while, but I think the information is more shared now … I guess he’s not a full-on mentor like he was in Trucks and Xfinity but I still do ask him for help.”

Busch wasn’t going to let that go, though; he returned to the media center during Jones’ press conference and interrupted him mid-answer.

MORE: How Busch stacks up with Bill Elliott at 44 wins

“How’s it going?” he asked Jones, holding up his phone to his ear and pretending to talk on it.

“It’s good, how was practice?” Jones said.

“I haven’t heard from you in a little while,” Busch said, grinning and exiting to a chorus of laughter.

“I don’t know why he’s gotta be like that,” Jones said, addressing the media again with a smile. “He’s bored.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney tied atop of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series speed charts in Friday’s opening practice at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Blaney and Jones both ran leaderboard-topping laps of 129.877 mph in the 55-minute session. Blaney drove the Team Penske No. 12 Ford; Jones was in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota.

Kurt Busch, a five-time Bristol winner, logged the third-fastest lap, driving the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford to 129.657 mph around the .533-mile track. His brother, Kyle Busch, a six-time winner at the Tennessee venue, was fourth-fastest, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five in preparation for Sunday’s Food City 500 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Practice 1 results | Full schedule for Bristol

Two teams were in repair mode after wrecks in first practice. Among them was Kevin Harvick, who made significant contact with the outside wall in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford with nine minutes remaining in the session.

“Something obviously either came off or broke in the front suspension,” Harvick said. “It looks more like the right-front, to tell you the truth. It definitely wasn’t a tire failure or anything like that, but just going in the corner as soon as I let off the gas it just hung a right, so it’s unfortunate for our Busch Beer/Jimmy John’s Ford, but we’ll get another one out and do it again.”

AJ Allmendinger triggered the first caution period, his JTG-Daugherty No. 47 Chevrolet spinning and making slight contact with the outside retaining wall with 12 minutes left. Harvick went to a backup car, while Allmendinger and the No. 47 team will attempt to fix the primary.

“Yeah, spun out and is going to make the rest of our weekend a pretty rough weekend,” Allmendinger said.

RELATED: Watch Allmendinger’s spin

Daniel Suarez turned in the 16th-fastest lap in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. He is competing this weekend with a brace on his left hand after a crash last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Suarez offers up injury update

Defending race winner Jimmie Johnson made the 14th-fastest lap in Friday’s practice.

Four teams were docked 15 minutes of practice time for failing pre-race technical inspection last weekend at Texas:

  • 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet of Jamie McMurray
  • 21 Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford of Paul Menard
  • 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet of Kyle Larson
  • 55 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet of Reed Sorenson

Busch Pole Qualifying for the Monster Energy Series is scheduled Friday at 4:45 p.m. ET with TV coverage on FS1.

Posted on by Chase Wilhelm

Will the real Ryan Blaney please stand up?

That’s the question Darrell Wallace Jr. raised after running into a diehard Ryan Blaney fan Friday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway before cars hit the track for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice.

So diehard, in fact, the fan looks just like the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Yeah, we can’t believe our eyes, either. The actual Ryan Blaney decided to get in on the fun, as well.

If Blaney ever needs a stand-in for the Glass Case of Emotion podcast, we know who to call.

Posted on by Staff Report

Crew chief Chad Knaus has spent much of his career in NASCAR helping to guide Jimmie Johnson to seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championships. In the coming months, Johnson may be offering the guidance in return.

Knaus made news this week with the announcement that his wife, Brooke, is pregnant with the couple’s first child. The baby is due in August.

Johnson, to no surprise, sent his best wishes and hinted that starting a family might be a calming influence.

“I’m excited for him,” Johnson said before opening practice at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I can also recall him through my process of being a parent and the sleepless nights and different aspects of parenthood, his curiosity and then, he just doesn’t know yet. He hasn’t been there. I’m excited for him to go through those experiences. He and Brooke are going to be amazing parents. It’s an exciting time for them.

“I think it will help make him a more patient man. I know being a parent has made me a more patient man, so he has that lesson coming for sure.”

Knaus has had some practice with Johnson’s two children, daughters Genevieve and Lydia, who are often seen at the race track with the No. 48 team. And true to his crew chief mentality, he is already prepping for his son’s August arrival. Brooke tweeted out a screenshot of her email inbox, which was topped with back-to-back-to-back baby/pregnancy-themed emails from Knaus.

 

Posted on by Brad Norman

Trackside Live is bringing fans at Bristol Motor Speedway action-packed events on Saturday, April 14 (6 p.m. ET) and Sunday, April 15 (9:30 a.m. ET).

WATCH: Trackside Live | MORE: Full schedule for Bristol | Buy your tickets

Don’t miss your chance to meet your favorite drivers and have some fun along the way. Watch the video above and get excited for two LIVE shows … it’s Bristol Baby!

UPDATE: Sunday’s showtime was moved up to 9:30 a.m. ET following the start time move up for Sunday’s race.

See you there!